Those Who Fight For The Sake Of Freedom
by Night Fury Guardian
Summary: So...I rewrote my original OC story. I hope you all like this one better! Summary: Ayla Keefe is a graduate of the 104th Trainee Corps, now a soldier in the Survey Corps. Alongside her brothers, she serves as a protector of humanity against the titans. But soon she will realize that maybe those memories she lost years ago were better off forgotten. ErenxOC Please don't be mean!
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_**_ So my original story, **Those Who Fight For The Sake of Freedom,** as well as a couple of my other stories, was removed from Fanfic due to its material. But fortunately, I was planning to rewrite anyway._

_The beginning of this is different than my first one, but hopefully I can make this one seem more...I don't know...more SnK than my original? LOL XD._

_The reason I'm rewriting this is because I didn't save most of my original chapters (because I'm a fool). But I hope that you'll enjoy this once as much as the original one._

_*UPDATE: I changed the main OC's name. hopefully I replaced it all, but I may have missed some. Her name is supposed to be Ayla._

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

_Death was all around me._

_I walked all alone, holding the place where my arm had been bitten off to try and staunch the blood flow. I knew that I didn't have much longer to live._

_Everywhere I looked, I recognized a face. All of them. Their dead faces seemed to watch me as I hobbled past them, trying to find a way out of here. It was hopeless, but I had to try._

_A rustle of leaves caught my attention. Surely, a titan was coming to finish me off. As it should, because I had failed to protect what little family I had had left in the world. I waited for it to jump out and attack._

_Suddenly, a boy a year or two older than me was in front of me, his brown eyes locked onto me. He said my name in a calm, steady voice._

_'Ayla...'_

_Who was he? I had never seen him before in my life. Still, despite not knowing him, it was my duty as a soldier to protect him. I limped forward, removing my bloodied hand to reach for a 3D maneuver gear bla_de._ I approached him as quickly as I could, determined to perform my duty._

_A huge thump announced the arrival of a fifteen-meter class titan. I prepared for battle, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to walk away from this fight alive. I had already lost far too much blood._

_But still. I had to try._

_A form raced past me, so quickly that had I blinked I would never have known. It was the boy that I had just resolved to save. He ran straight toward the titan, a strange type of sword in his hand._

_He was going to get himself killed!_

_I raced after him as best as I could, trying to hopefully catch up to him to save him. He was already at the fifteen meter's feet, slashing away. As I ran, it seemed that my movements were put into slow motion as I watched the fifteen meter suddenly snatch him up from the ground and lift him towards its mouth_

"Noooooo!" I yelled as I reached out toward the boy. But the scene before me was quite different now.

Instead of being in the outside world surrounded by titans, I was now back in my room in the Survey Corps HQ. Everything was the way it should be. My room in its normal untidy state,

I lazily sat there for a few moments, trying to wake up from the nightmare that I had just had. So strange...I wondered who that boy was and why he protected me.

_'It's just a dream.'_ I mentally reminded myself. _'He probably doesn't even exist.'_

As I tried to shake off the strange feeling that the dream had left behind, I looked at the clock. My heart thumped anxiously in my chest as I processed the time.

I was going to be late.

"Shit!" I panicked, snatching the covers off my body.

I hurriedly jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom. My hand found my hairbrush, and I immediately started to yank it through my thick, brown curls. As soon as it was manageable, I braided it into a single braid and tied a hair tie in it. Then, I brushed my teeth while undressing from my night clothes, rapidly replacing them with a white button up shirt and my standard uniform pants.

I darted out of my room, slamming the locked door behind me as I rushed toward Levi Heichou's office. He was going to give me a strict punishment for being late to this meeting, especially my first.

After all, I was now an official member of his squad.

A week ago, the captain had contacted my older brother David, who was also my squad leader, about me joining Squad Levi. I honestly wanted to decline so I could stay with my little brother Kai and best friend Isabella, who were also in the squad, but David ordered me to go join the captain. It had been three days since I had seen any of them.

Just ahead lied the door to his office. And it was still open! I pressed on harder, trying to squeeze in before Levi Heichou came in.

All of a sudden, some dark haired boy was in front of me. He wasn't facing me, going in the same direction. I realized, however, that I was going to hit him.

My attempts to stop might have worked, had I not tripped on the carpet that

"Ahhh!" I shrieked as I came tumbling down. Unfortunately, the boy ahead of me was too close; I ended up taking him down with me. He spun around last instant and reached his arms out to try to catch me it looked like. But instead, he fell backward, and I landed on top of him.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized as I scrambled off of him in a hurry, my face burning bright red.

"It's fine..." he replied, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. He looked up at me and I almost staggered under the gaze of his bright green eyes.

* * *

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

I had no idea anyone had been behind me until I heard a gasp. That was when I spun around and saw the girl as she started to fall. I had reached out to catch but only ended up getting myself knocked down. She landed on top of me,

"I'm sorry!" I heard her say as she climbed up off of me. Putting a hand to where I had hit my head on the floor, I looked up at her to see hazel eyes staring into mine. She had dark brown hair that was pulled into a single braid that contrasted greatly with her pale skin. Except her cheeks had a pink tint, probably due to embarrassment though.

"Alright, you two shits." Levi Heichou suddenly said, bringing me back to the real world. "Both of you on night watch the rest of the week. Since neither of you seem able to get somewhere on time.

"But-" I protested, before Heichou cut me off.

"Want me to make it two weeks?"

I sighed in defeat. "No, sir."

"Didn't think so. Now go sit your asses down." He walked away to go to his own seat. Great. Now he was pissed at me, all because this girl had shown up late, getting me caught as well.

"Thanks a lot." I hissed at the girl as I rose to my feet.

"I said I was sorry!" She snapped back, sounding irritated. "It's not my fault that you're late, too."

"Well, if your klutzy ass hadn't tripped and tackled me, maybe Heichou wouldn't have said anything."

"Oh, so this is **my** fault?!"

"You said it, not me."

_"GET OVER HERE NOW SO WE CAN START THIS DAMN MEETING ALREADY!" _Heichou hissed at us.

I gave her a glare, and she returned the favor as we walked over to our seats. Hanji and Moblit were there, Hanji cackling at everything that had just happened while Moblit looked around nervously. Heichou just continued to shake his head in annoyance. To my embarrassment, Commander Smith was there, too. His expression was as stoic as ever as he stood up.

"Well, now that we're all here..." Commander Smith began. "I think I should let you all know that I've planned an expedition outside the walls within the month. We'll leave from the Karanese District and make a simple round in order to survey the area."

"Why are we doing that, Erwin?" Hanji asked curiously. "Is there another Titan shifter that we're going after?"

"No." He replied. "It's honestly just a simple scouting expedition."

Heichou snorted. "Hold up. Before you start with strategy, I want to know what the verdict on this brat is."

Commander Smith paused for a moment before responding. "She will be joining your squad as you requested."

My mind went blank. **_She_** was going to be in the same squad as me?!

'_Terrific.'_ I thought sarcastically to myself, giving a visible huff of irritation. Nobody noticed it, which was good for me; i didn't need to get myself in more trouble. My eyes glanced over to her quiet, still form.

"If you'd all like a formal introduction, though," Commander Smith responded. "This is Ayla Keefe; she'll be reassigned to Squad Levi as of now."

"Levi, you got another one in your squad?!" Hanji exclaimed enthusiastically. She laughed and then turned to me. "That means Eren has a new squad member!"

I grimaced.

"Aren't you David Keefe's relative?" she continued, turning to the girl seemingly lost on the whole conversation.

I wondered what the point of me being present was, because the rest of the meeting was filled with nothing but strategy and placement of soldiers. That is, once Hanji stopped asking Keefe so many questions. I grimaced once again when I heard that she and I were going to be in the same cell while riding, but I had no control over that so I just kept my mouth shut. But part of me wondered why she pushed my buttons so much when I had just talked to the girl for the first a fucking hour ago.

After the meeting was over, Commander Smith dismissed us. I crossed paths with Ayla as we exited. Heichou met us at the door way, telling us where to go for our punishment.

Shit.

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

"Get to guard duty, you filthy brats!" I heard my new superior officer yell at me as I slowed from my running.

I resisted the urge to curse him out, not wanting to be disciplined even further. In addition to his punishment of guard duty, he'd also made me run laps for two hours and clean the horse stables, which I had to do every day for two weeks. Not only that, but I had to do it with Eren.

That was punishment in itself.

I may not have twenty words to the boy, but I already thought of him as an ass. Ever since leaving the meeting today, he'd done nothing but do stuff just to irritate the hell out of me. There were a couple of times that I almost turned around and beat the shit out of him, but thankfully I didn't. And I say thankfully because almost always after I had resolved not to hit him, a superior officer would walk by. I didn't want more disciplinary actions against me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eren slow down beside me. Fortunately, he seemed too out of breath and tired to make any smart ass comments to me. We didn't come to full stop until we were standing in front of Heichou.

It was almost humorous that my new superior officer was shorter than me. But I wasn't going to dare say that out loud.

"You two can have a thirty-minute break before you head on up." He told us. "But if your asses aren't up there in thirty minutes, you'll be cleaning the entire HQ for a month. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Eren and I responded simultaneously as we saluted. Heichou walked off, leaving us alone.

I didn't say anything to him, nor did he bother me. Instead, we walked off in the direction of the mess hall. Instead of going in the same door as him however, I decided to go in through the side, to avoid the temptation of decking him if he should say something.

My senses grew alert when I heard a familiar voice call my name.

"Ayla!"

My eyes scanned the mess hall until they focused on the two people coming toward me. The auburn haired boy was my little brother Kai while the girl with her dark hair tied back in a low ponytail was my best friend Isabella Rothschild. They both took in my exhausted expression, concern on their faces.

"What happened?" Isabella asked me.

"You look like crap." Kai said, not meaning to offend, just making an observation.

"Well..." I answered. "I was late to that important meeting this morning and my new squad leader decided to teach me the importance of showing up on time."

It was childish, but I was half hoping at least one of them would say,_ 'Poor Ayla. Having to do all of that exhausting stuff.'_

But I knew exactly what was coming.

"I told you not to stay up so late, didn't I?" Kai scolded me. Honestly, you'd have thought he was the older sibling. "You never get up on time unless you do that. What have I-"

"Kai, please spare me the lecture." I interrupted. "I'm really not feeling good."

That silenced him. "You need to go eat something. You're pale as a ghost."

"I'm not honestly hungry." I told him, and for once my stomach didn't betray me by growling. "I just wanted to see you guys before I had to go on guard duty."

Isabella's eyes narrowed while Kai walked off. Probably going to get me some food anyway, despite what I just told him. "How much stuff are you having to do?"

I gave a halfhearted laugh. "Well, I had to run for two hours, and clean the stables. Which will be my punishment for the next two weeks."

"Ouch."

"That is not even the worst part, Izzy. I have to work with Jaeger."

She was silent for a minute. "The Titan shifting boy?"

"Yep."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I'm surprised that you're not excited about that. I mean, you did have a huge crush on him in training, didn't you?"

The sudden mention of that topic cause me to blush and go on the defensive. "Th-That was like...three years ago! I was stupid back then! W-Why are you bringing it up **_NOW_**_?_"

Isabella looked at me, surprised but somewhat amused. "I was just making a statement. Calm down, Ayla."

_'I know that but still...'_ I thought to myself. My eyes wandered around, not resting until they coincidentally found a clock.

"Well, I better go." I told her. "Don't want to be late again."

She looked as though she wanted to stop me, but instead she just said, "Okay, see ya later." It probably looked as though I wanted to avoid that topic. Which was part of the reason, but honestly I did need to leave.

All of a sudden, my stomach rumbled. I groaned in aggravation at myself as I realized that I had forgotten to get something to eat. It didn't help that I had skipped the other two meals, too. But I would just have to shake it off until after guard duty.

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

"Mikasa, I'm fine." I told her as she tried to give me her bread. "You need to eat it, don't worry about me."

I knew she was worried. I must have looked like hell when I walked into the mess hall. I sure felt like hell, but after eating supper I regained a little energy. Hopefully, it would be enough to carry me on through night guard.

She continued to try and hand it to me. "Eren, you need more energy if you have to work more. I'll be going to bed soon, so I don't need it."

My stomach inconveniently growled a little.

I sighed in annoyance and defeat, taking the bread from her and tearing it in half. I began to eat one half while giving her the other back. "Thanks."

She seemed somewhat relieved that I had taken some of it. Across from me, Armin had finished eating and was reading a book. On what, I didn't know and I had been too tired and hungry to care. He looked up from it suddenly to join in the conversation.

"What did you do to make Heichou upset anyway?" he asked me.

"Well, I did...run late for the meeting this morning."

"Eren..." Mikasa sighed. I couldn't blame her for her annoyance; she **_did_** come by to wake me up on time. It's just that I went back to sleep after she left for her training.

"Hey! Heichou may not have even caught me if it hadn't been for the new girl in our squad!"

"There's a new squad memeber?" Armin repeated in a question. "Since when?"

"Since I found out this morning." I replied. "Anyway, she was later than I was. But she came in the door like a bat out of hell. Pratically tackled me when she tripped, too."

"Then Heichou punished you for being late, and you blamed her. Am I right?"

"Well..." I stumbled for words. When he put it that way..."Yes."

Mikasa and Armin sighed on cue. It really aggravated me sometimes when they did that. It almost felt like I was their kid that they kept having to steer in the right direction.

"Okay, fine!" I hissed, already knowing what was coming. "I'll apologize next time. You happy?"

My two best friends smirked at each other, giving me my answer.

"Umm, excuse me?" I turned around to see an auburn haired boy looking at me. He looked younger than us, which surprised me because I didn't think that soldiers were allowed to be any younger.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"You're Eren Jaeger, right?"

"...Yes." I answered hesitantly, not sure where this was going.

"Oh, good." He sighed in relief before continuing. "Anyway, you have guard duty with my sister tonight. And...she left here without eating. Could you...take this to her? Please?"

He held out a small box for me to take. I studied him for a moment before asking, "Who's your sister?"

"Ayla Keefe"

I resisted the urge to say, '_Hell no, screw her'_ but the kid didn't seem like his sister. Shouldn't take it out on him. I took the box from him. "Yeah, okay. I will."

"Thanks." he replied, turning away to leave. Before he left us however, he warned me that I might want to hurry up and get going, to avoid more punishment. After looking at the clock, I took his advice.

* * *

**_A/N_**_: So how is it? I don't know how well I'm doing. It's got nowhere near the eventful start the original did, but I'm hoping that this will make a lot more sense!_

_Anyway, gotta go! Bye!_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_**_ Hello, readers! Here is chapter two! Kinda short but hopefully you'll like it! :D_

* * *

**Eren's P.O.V.**

_'Dammit!'_ I internally thought to myself as I raced to my destination. I was late, VERY LATE this time. Heichou would have my ass.

With that thought, I continued to run as fast as I could, pushing myself hard until I finally was at the post I had been assigned. At first, I thought that I was home free. No superior officer in sight. That meant that I would be able to avoid any more running or cleaning or both.

Then I turned the corner, and Heichou was there.

Fuck.

He turned around to face me, annoyance and anger on his face. I knew I was in for it.

"S-sorry I'm late…" I huffed to my superior officer.

"Jaeger, I thought that you'd learn punctuality when I assigned you to night duty." Heichou chewed me out. "I swear I ought to..."

"Sir, it's not his fault." Ayla suddenly interjected, surprising me.

What the hell?!

"What's that, Keefe?" Heichou asked harshly. "Why is it not his fault?"

"Because I asked him to go tell my brother where I was." She lied without hesitation. "It's my fault, sir. He was only trying to help me. So don't blame him. Blame me, sir."

Heichou glared up at her for a few moments before answering. "Well then, Ms. Keefe. Your running has been doubled. I hope your feet like being sore."

She stood still, with an emotionless expression, as she replied. "...Yes, sir."

"I hope that next time this happens, you have the balls to admit your fault, instead of letting a woman take the fall for you." He whispered into my ear harshly. "Be a man, Jaeger."

He let go of my jacket and walked off, probably to go check on the rest of the guards. I was still in shock at everything that had just happened. I hadn't known this girl a day, and already treated her like crap. Yet, she just…took the punishment of my actions. I had no idea what to think of that as I watched her stand stiffly until Heichou was out of her sight.

"Great..." she groaned, relaxing her stance as soon as he was out of ear shot. Without another word, she walked over to our post, grabbing the rifle (it was standard equipment for guard duty). I followed behind her, still surprised at what she had just done.

"Why...did you...do that...?" I asked her as she walked over to our guard position.

"Do what?" she replied.

"Take…the blame. You just lied to him and let yourself take the punishment."

She turned around to face me, avoiding eye contact for a couple seconds before her hazel eyes looked into mine. "Well, there's no sense in us being enemies anymore...is there?"

"No... I guess not. But you really didn't have to do that." I answered nervously, running a hand through my hair.

"I know. But you have to look after your comrades, right?"

"R-right…" I mumbled, looking after her as she stood against the railing. I decided that I should say something else and at least get to know my new comrade.

"Ummm, Ayla...wasn't it?" I asked uncertainly, not completely sure if I had remembered her name. I'd been to annoyed and sleepy to care when I had heard it this morning.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"Umm, I just wanted to...apologize for...this morn-"

"Don't worry about it, Eren." She interrupted me mid-sentence. "It's ancient history."

"But still…It's my fault. Wow. I just doubled your work…" I thought out loud, guilt making me feel bad. "Let me make it up to you. I'll come work with you so you can get done faster and you won't be alone."

"No." she told me, cheeks turning dark. "It's fine. I…I can do it alone!"

"Come on. It's the least I can do. Oh." I suddenly realized that I still had the box of food that I'd been asked to give her.

I handed it to her, and she took it with confusion on her face. "What's this?"

"Kai asked me to bring you some supper." I replied. "He handed me this box and said you didn't get to eat."

"Oh...well. Thanks a lot." She answered with a hint of a smile. "I was getting a little hungry."

Her stomach growled loudly in response. She blushed at the sound and turned away from me. I couldn't help but laugh.

"It looks like you're _really_ hungry." I replied with a smile.

"Sorry about that…" she muttered, still flustered. "I haven't eaten since last night."

"Huh?" I asked, somewhat surprised at what she had said. "Why haven't you eaten since then? You'll make yourself ill and weak if you keep doing that."

Ayla rolled her eyes. "Please. Besides, I'd much rather be ill and weak than be called the 'human cow' again. And it rarely bothers me at all, not eating that is."

"Whatever." I mumbled. If she was going to be stubborn, let her. Anyway, why should I care? I just met her this morning.

I walked over to the railing of our post, looking out across the dark terrain with boredom. There was never anything exciting about guard duty at night. Why we even needed guard duty was a mystery to me. After all, the internal conflict between the monarchy and Military Police and the Survey Corps had been over for a few months. That incident with Rod and Historia Reiss still crystal clear in my mind...

I shook my head to snap out of that train of thought. All that I needed to focus on was to learn the hardening ability, seal the hole in Wall Maria, and go find whatever there was in my basement that my dad wanted me to find back in the Shiganshina district.

Easier said than done.

* * *

**Ayla's P.O.V.**

I sat at our post quietly as I nibbled on the food that Kai had sent to me. While I ate, I occasionally looked over at Eren, for what reason I'm not certain.

He was humanity's hope…Though it was hard to believe. He was kind of small to be soldier (not that I have room to talk. He's larger than I am.). Hard to believe a 15-meter titan could come from him.

My thoughts drifted to the Female Titan we had encountered a while back, later discovered to be Annie Leonhardt. Though I had never even talked to her, I still found it hard to believe that she could have just…slaughtered humans like she had. She killed so many on the 57th expedition. I looked over to Eren, feeling sad for him. His entire squad had been killed by her, save for Levi Heichou and himself. No one actually saw it happen, and neither of them have even mentioned it. All we saw was the aftermath, the corpses of the former squad Levi. It was…gruesome.

Thinking about all of this brought my earlier questions back to the front of my thoughts. Why had Commander Smith sent me to join Heichou's squad? Yes, I always did my best on training and missions, but I was nowhere near as skilled as the people in Squad Levi. Most of them were in the top ten, except for Armin, Historia, and Ymir (before we learned she was a titan shifter and she ran off). But still they were strong in their own right.

"Hey, Ayla…" I heard Eren's voice suddenly call to me.

I looked up to meet his bright green eyes, looking at me with such intensity that I had trouble looking at them. It was probably just my wild imagination; his eyes were just naturally those kind of eyes.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"What do you think is out there?" he questioned me, throwing me off guard.

"Out where?"

"Beyond the walls." He explained while turning around to face the titan-controlled area.

"I don't know…" I answered truthfully. "But whatever there is, I hope I at least get to see it before I die."

There was silence for a long time before he finally commented. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll live long enough to explore the entire world."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're strong." He told me as explanation. "And you're smart. And you possess the will to do whatever you want."

I blushed in response. "How do you know all that? We just met this morning. Besides, none of that is me."

"Yes, it is." He argued in a calm voice. "And believe me, I notice more than you think I do."

"WH-what do you mean?" I demanded, flustered at the conversation. There was no real reason, but I couldn't help but feel my cheeks grow hotter and hotter.

The smile he gave me in response was knowing and cocky at the same time. He looked over at me as he replied.

"We were in training together, remember? During that time, I would study anyone that looked strong. I watched you one day and thought that I should practice hand-to-hand combat with you. I don't remember seeing you ever lose."

I snorted in response. "That's because I never went up against anyone who was extremely skilled at it."

"Then why don't we test you out?"

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow." Eren said in a confident voice. "You and I. Hand-to-hand."

"I'll…. pass."

"What? Is Ms. Keefe here…_scared_?" he said in fake shock. "You survived three long years of intense training, fought and survived the Battle of Trost, and survived your first expedition which also included a new enemy to humanity. And you also somehow avoided capture from the Central MP during the conflict inside the walls. And now look at you. Scared to fight one single-"

"Please." I replied, getting irritated that he was mocking me now. "I could kick your ass any day, any time."

"Okay, then. Tomorrow before guard duty then." He arranged.

"Alright, it's a date." I agreed. "You're going down, titan boy."

"I'll pin you on the ground so fast it'll make you dizzy, Ayla." He commented with a smile on his while I turned away, blushing at his word choice. But I was going to have the last word.

"Just make sure you're not late again, Eren."


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: _**_After months of writer's block...I may finally be getting back to it! Don't be surprised if this chapter sucks. I know it probably will suck to high heaven. Anyway, I have a few ideas as to what happened. You know if I was **SMART** I would've wrote this along to what the manga plot. But instead you're getting a...meh._

_I hope it's okay though. I'm trying to make it better than last time. I just have an awful feeling this sucks..._

_Anyway...Enjoy ^-^_

* * *

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

I snorted at Ayla's smart ass comment, shaking my head. "Take your own advice. If I remember correctly, you were later than I was that morning."

"You don't know how to let something go, do you?"

"I'm just telling the truth."

"No, you're just being an ass."

"Fuck you."

"Go to hell."

We both just sat there, conversation dying down momentarily as an awkward silence filled the atmosphere surrounding us. I looked out into the dark lit streets, patiently wishing that this shift would hurry up and be over already. All of a sudden, a familiar voice called out my name.

"Eren!"

"Armin?" I said in somewhat disbelief. "What're you doing here? I thought you'd be in the barracks asleep by now."

Armin rubbed the back of his head, one of his many nervous gestures. "We need to get to the Commander's office."

"Why?" I asked. "It's practically midnight."

"I know...but I was ordered to come get you so..."

I studied my friend's face hard. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"You'll understand everything when we get to his office." Armin told me. Now that I paid more attention, he seemed as if he was distracted. His eyes kept moving around, as if he was being watched. I looked around to see if anyone did have their eyes on us, but no one there did.  
I walked over to where Ayla was. She seemed as if in a daze so I cleared my throat to get her attention. I tried to seem more polite as I spoke. "Hey. I've got to go to the Commander's office. I don't know how long-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She interrupted me. "I'll sign you out."

I gave a small, apologetic smile."I appreciate it."

"Better get going." She told me, pointing over my shoulder. "Your friend's leaving you."

I turned around to see Armin walking away at a fast pace. Ayla held her hand out as I ripped the rifle off my shoulder. After handing it to her, I ran off after him.

"Hey, wait up!"

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

Guard duty was finally over. Having never had such a long and strenuous day, I felt like I could just sleep for an eternity. Of course, I'd better be prepared to get a nap rather than a full, good night sleep.

I walked over to hang Eren's rifle beside my own at the gun rack. Now all there was to do was wait until someone came to relieve me. I was a bit annoyed that I was stuck here alone until the next guards got here. Giving a huff of impatience, I sat down next to the gun rack. I would have loved at that moment to take my 3D maneuver gear off. The thing got uncomfortable for me after a few hours.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, I leaned my head back against the wall, letting my mind wander. On one thing in particular...

Because no matter how hard I pondered, I could recall anything past 8 years ago. Everything else, crystal clear. But anything beyond my seventh year was blank. The earliest memory I could recall was waking up to my family's faces, not recognizing a single one of them. Dad had told me that I had fallen off a cart, and my head hit the ground so hard that it caused amnesia.

But if that was the case, shouldn't my memories have returned by now? I must be running a record for amnesia by now...

The sound of swift footsteps quickly caught my attention. My eyes snapped open, my head turning toward the sound. A small figure in a green cloak, like the kind we used in the Survey Corps, was running toward my position. Maybe this was one of the next guards.

I stood up to leave just as they reached the gun rack. However, they snatched the rifle off and kept running, shoving me out of the way. I grabbed onto the wall to maintain my balance.

"Hey!" I shouted angrily at them.

I thought that maybe this might just be some asshole prankster. No one important. That is, until a group of superior officers, armed with rifles, aimed their weapons toward the cloaked runner.

"DON'T LET HER ESCAPE!"

The deafening sounds of gunshots went off for a few moments. I could have been hit easily, but I had immediately snatched the other rifle off of the rack and chased after the one running away. This must be one of the criminals that they kept locked up here.

Had the moon not been so bright and the lanterns lit down the streets, I wouldn't have even been able to see the cloaked figure as she ran down the empty streets. She had an advantage over me in terms of speed, considering that I was weighed down some by my 3D maneuver gear. In hopes of catching her, I removed my 3D maneuver equipment and let it fall to the ground. Having lightened my load, I raced after her at a quicker speed.

To my misfortune, that small speed difference had been enough to make me lose sight of her. I slowed my pace; I didn't want to unnecessarily tire myself out before I found her. Who knew where she'd be at by now...

I moved quietly along the dark, empty streets, the rifle ready should I need to use it. My eyes scanned the area carefully, looking for any more signs of movement. She had to be around here somewhere.

What I thought I heard to be the click of a gun alerted me to someone nearby. I immediately turned toward the sound, looking for any movement. It was silent for a few moments.

All of a sudden, a rifle went off in my direction.

* * *

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

"What's going on, Armin?" I asked impatiently as I saw others from our squad in the office. "You haven't said one word since you dragged me from my post. Now what is it?"

At that very moment, Ms. Hanji and Heichou busted into the room. Hanji let out a deep sigh when she looked at me. Levi just made a passing glance before walking over to the table in the corner, picking up a tea cup and taking a sip.

"Good job, Armin." Ms. Hanji told him. "You got to him before she could."

Frustration setting in, I gave an annoyed sigh. "What the fuck are you guys talking about? Who is 'she'?"

At that moment, Erwin Smith, the Commander of the Survey Corps, walked and shut the door behind him. We all gave a salute to him (except for Hanji and Levi) until he gestured for us to take a seat.

"All right, Squad Levi." Erwin addressed us. "We have a serious issue at hand. Annie Leonhardt has escaped."

My head snapped up in response to his words. Annie? That murderous bitch was out there, able to run around and kill innocent people? But how did she escape?

The room was quiet as this news absorbed into their minds. Though no one had shown the shock that I had exhibited. They'd probably heard it just shortly before. The mood was serious as we all remained silent. Finally, Hanji came to a realization.

"Do you think that Eren's still in danger?"

"She won't risk going after Eren within the walls, not after Armin warned him, I'm certain..." Commander Smith thought out loud. "However, she's sure to be near the walls as well. I believe that everyone tired her out during her initial escape from the underground prison, considering she stayed in human form..."

Hanji nodded. "She didn't transform once. I wonder if she's waiting for an expedition to make her move..."

Levi put his cup down after taking a sip of tea and spoke finally. "She's baiting us...and I say we should take the bait."

Every head in the room turned to face him, including my own.

"We shouldn't put Eren in such unnecessary danger." Mikasa said, much to my annoyance. I got so tired of her treating me like a little kid.

"We'll make certain that Eren stays safe and sound, Mikasa." Hanji immediately said, hoping to satisfy my adoptive sister.

The door creaked open again, revealing Ayla as she walked in. The look on her face seemed unnaturally serious. I also noticed a bandage on her right cheek.

"Sir, a prisoner from the underground escaped from confinement." She informed Commander Smith as she entered. "My former squad leader told me to come here though."

"The prisoner was Annie Leonhardt." Hanji informed her. "That's who we're discussing at the moment."

"So that's who it was." Ayla replied, eyes wide with surprise. "She swiped a rifle from the guard post I was at and fled."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "You saw her?! Why didn't you go after her?!"

Mikasa put a hand on my shoulder to try and calm me down. I didn't respond as I kept my eyes on Ayla. She narrowed her eyes at me, annoyance on her face. The room was full of tension as we both refused to back down. After a few moments, Ayla finally decided to give me an answer.

"I DID go after her." She snapped. "I even shot her in the leg, but I'm sure you can guess that she just healed and kept going. Then when I was looking for her, she took a shot at me. Then knocked me out with the rifle when I fell to dodge it. See?"

She slowly peeled the bandage off her cheek, revealing a burned scrape just a couple inches under eye, still trickling out some blood. Any higher, and she might have been blinded by the gunshot, if not killed. I felt a little guilty for yelling, but I didn't say anything in response.

"So she escaped, huh?" Hanji thought out loud. "I wonder why she picked NOW of all times. Things are relatively quiet now..."

"Well, whatever the reason..." the Commander's voice addressed loudly to us, capturing the room's attention. "Maybe we could use this opportunity to track her. See where she's going."  
Hanji seemed lively at that idea. "Then maybe we'd get some answers."

"Tch." Heichou responded.

My own thoughts brightened at her words. If we found Annie, we might mind the other traitors. And their hideout. By doing that, we could at least hope to gain an advantage.

But the question was, could we track her?

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

"What the heck happened to you?!" my best friend Izzy exclaimed. I had just gotten back to our room from meeting in Commander Smith's office. She sat up at the sound of my entrance, being the light sleeper that she is. When I removed the bandage on my cheek, she immediately noticed the bullet graze. "Who did this to you!?"

I gave a laugh to try and lighten the mood. "I had to go on a police chase today. She kinda ambushed me and gave me this."

"Let me find out where they are. They're gonna regret it." she ranted in anger.

"Well, she escaped." I informed her, slouching down on my bed. Frustration had begun to set in. If only I could have been quicker, then I could have caught her...

Isabella took a seat next to me, keeping an eye on me. "Sorry. Who was it that escaped?"

"Annie Leonhardt..."

"What?! You mean that girl who transforms into that homicidal female titan?!"

"Yeah. That's her." I confirmed. I felt so useless because I didn't catch her. She had finally come out of her crystal, and I had failed humanity by catching her. Eren was right to be pissed at me...

"Hey. You tried your best." Isabella told me, trying to make me feel better. She had always been able to sense when I felt bad since the day we first met. She was always a great friend.

"Thanks, Izzy." I said. "But I know I can do better."

I stood up slowly, fatigue finally setting in. Isabella went back to her bed as I walked over to my dresser, digging out the night gown I had. Fumbling with the belts on my uniform, I finally was able to change into my sleep wear.

Sleep seemed to evade me tonight. While my roommate remained asleep for the rest of the night, I tossed and turned. I kept having strange dreams. But as soon as I woke up, I seemed to instantly forget them. It was as if something in my mind kept screaming something at me. However, no matter how hard I tried, I never could remember.

I felt so different than everyone else. I couldn't remember anything beyond seven years old. Others my age could recall old childhood experiences while my past was a blur.

Giving an irritated sigh, I got out of bed to go for a walk. After slipping on some boots and a jacket, I headed outside our room and then out to the empty streets. It was somewhat chilly, so I was glad I had decided to wear a jacket. As I walked down the street, I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was being watched.

I turned around to confront whoever was following me. My entire body froze as I laid eyes upon a boy who had to be only a year or two older than me, dressed in simple civilian clothing. He had brown hair, so unruly that it pointed in every direction. And he had chocolate brown eyes that stared at me with no emotion.

I had never seen him before in my life, yet his face was undeniably familiar.

He was the boy from those strange dreams that I had been having.

* * *

**_A/N: _**_Cliff hanger, hanging from a cliff...And that's why he's called cliff hanger! LOL XD Sorry..._

_The idea of incorporating the boy just now occurred to me so I hope that adds a little suspense. :)_

_I really hope this story isn't sucking. I'm trying to do a better job than last time. Because the last time they were outside the walls alone without any reason. So I thought this time, I should probably do a bit more explaining._

_I'm debating whether to go along with my original idea and add in my new ideas, or try to go strictly with the new. I know a couple of you, I have pm'd and discussed my ideas with so let me have some feedback (considering ya'll know where the hell I was going with this...kinda)_

_Please review. It always means so much to me. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed before. Ya'll are awesome!_

_I kinda feel like I just made no sense in what all I just said, but anyway..._

_Until next time, my friends. ^-^_


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: _**_Hello, everyone! It's **Night Fury Guardian **here! And I'm back with a new chapter for my SnK OC story!_

_So this chapter is hopefully full of action! I tried my best to put a lot of action in here, but I don't if I did a decent job on it! Please review!_

_Sorry it's been forever, ya'll. Been busy with college. Thank God that this one I'm going to doesn't pile to homework on you. It's just usually by the time I'm done and go to work on this, I go to sleep lol xD_

_Anyway, Enjoy! ^-^_

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

It was early the next morning when Commander Erwin organized a small party of soldiers to go pursue the escaped prisoner. She couldn't have gotten far, considering that no one had detected any transformation inside or immediately outside the wall. However, Annie Leonhardt was not someone to be taken lightly. She had killed before to escape and would surely do so again.

I felt so weird as I got into to formation with Squad Levi instead of with my brothers and best friend. It was like I was a lost little kid again. However, I was ordered into this squad because apparently I have some worth as a soldier; Heichou didn't let just anyone join his squad. Of course it wasn't all that bad. While Eren and his two close friends kept to themselves, I got a good laugh from watching Connie and Sasha crack a couple of jokes. Nice to see that some soldiers could still act like a person even after seeing so much death.

As soon as we left the walls via the Karanese district gate, we split up into standard formation. Dawn had just come so it was still dark a little. But it was bright enough to be able to see for a good distance ahead of us. The horses' hooves thudded on the ground as we rode in the general direction that Annie was supposedly going in. I absentmindedly touched my bandaged cheek. The chances were slim, but maybe I could get payback for last night.

"Quit daydreaming, Keefe." I heard a familiar voice order me. I turned in the direction to see Jaeger giving me a disappointed look which immediately irritated me.

"Who died and made you in charge, Jaeger?" I snapped back.

Eren was about to open his mouth and say something when Levi turned his attention to us. "Oi, you brats. That's enough. Quit squabbling like three year olds. I chose you as soldiers, not to fucking adopt you."

"Yes, Heichou!" we both replied as we gave each other a scowl.

"Are we even sure she-" Someone had started to ask until a sudden blast from behind startled us all. A large flare was shooting up high into the sky, as black as the night sky.

_'It's either an aberrant...or Annie...' _I thought to myself. I returned my attention forward.

"Are we going to turn around?" Armin asked Heichou. "To see what's going on?"

"Normally, no." Heichou replied, pulling the reigns on his horse to slow him down some. "But considering that we're here to catch the bitch and Erwin hasn't set a trap this time, then yes."

Our small part of the formation turned in the direction of the flare, toward imminent danger. It was against normal protocol for this part, I knew. The small group that I was generally in had to fight to protect them. We continued on our way until we saw horses running toward us and elsewhere, away from the scene behind them.

And there she was. Towering an approximate fifteen meters above us was the Female Titan...Annie. She apparently had turned into a titan at a far off distance considering no one in the formation had seen any indication that she had recently. She must having been waiting for us all along. Now that I was here, she must have already wiped out the rear flanks. This realization made my stomach churn because my brothers and Izzy were part of the rear flanks. They couldn't be...

The swooshes of 3D maneuver gears came from my left, where a couple of tall trees stood. Relief flooded me as I recognized Isabella and Kai among the few maneuvering down from the tree toward us.

"You guys okay?" I asked anxiously.

"Of course we are!" Kai said as he quickly landed on one of the horses trying to escape. Isabella rode up beside us on another horse. I felt like crying out of relief. My family was still okay. That was when I noticed someone was missing.

"Where's David?" My eyes immediately turned toward the Female Titan, panicking. I relaxed only slightly when I saw that he wasn't in her grasp. Nor did I recognize his face among any of the bodies near her feet.

A cable was suddenly shot out of the same tree that held my best friend and brother. The soldier who had fired it was none other than David. He zoomed toward the Female Titan, effectively dodging every move she made. It was when he started shouting orders that I noticed there were others helping him fight her.

Levi Heichou's orders startled me. "My squad. And you two, let's go!"

His words seemed alien to me. "What?!"

"We're going to lure the Female Titan into the forest so there's better maneuverability." he shortly answered my question. "That's an order, not a suggestion. Let's go!"

Reluctantly, I followed my squad as we headed for the giant forest. Just as Levi had said, she followed after us, killing whoever stood in her way. I couldn't take my eyes off the scene of my brother fighting behind me. I couldn't just run away while he was fighting. Just like him, I had a duty as a soldier and an older sibling. I couldn't take it anymore...

"Ayla!" I heard Izzy call after me as I abandoned my horse to go back to the battle behind us. There's no way that I could just leave him to fight her.

"Keefe! Get back here now!" Heichou's voice ordered me. It didn't sound like he'd stopped the formation, but I wouldn't have turned back if he had. I was average when it came to being a soldier; I was expendable in the eyes of the superiors.

As I came closer to the fight, David's head snapped toward me. His eyes grew wide in what I took to be surprise. "_What the hell are you doing?!"_

"I'm coming to help!"

"TURN AROUND,**_ NOW_**_!_" he ordered me before a giant hand suddenly enclosed around his body.

**"DAVID!**" I screamed in terror as the female titan holding him squeezed him tightly. Blood spurted out from his mouth as he gasped for air. Zooming toward him on my 3D maneuver gear, I desperately tried to reach him. However, I couldn't get there fast enough and could do nothing but watch in horror as she took his now lifeless body and threw it with excessive force. He slammed hard into a giant tree, surely breaking every bone in it. Though...David was already gone before she threw him. The force that she'd used was too much for him. I turned around to where the body laid now, battered and covered with the red liquid that formed in pool around him. Those blue eyes that I had always known, always looked up to, were open, the light gone out of his eyes forever.

My big brother was gone. Forever.

I stared at the scene before me, horrified. Tears threatened to spill out as I trembled. Fear and agony filled my body for a few moments. Until something caught my attention.

Giant footsteps.

I turned my body around, facing the huge female titan that had killed David. In that moment, my shaking stopped completely. And my fear and agony had momentarily disappeared, replaced by new emotions. Pure anger and fury burned through my veins. I felt...strength. Incredible strength from my sorrow and rage. The kind that makes you feel brave enough to do anything. My grip on my blades tightened as I pulled the triggers, sending me into the air in pursuit. Shrieking wordlessly in pure rage, I flew on my 3D maneuver gear toward the escaping bitch. I was catching up to her quickly as well.

"**AYLA, DON'T**!" Kai yelled at me. However, I was far too enraged to heed my little brother's words.

Someone out of the blue rammed into me from the side, flying us towards a steady tree branch. I immediately jumped to my feet, eager not to let my brother's murderer get away from me. However, I couldn't move for some reason.

"Keefe, snap out of it!" Eren shouted at me in anger.

His arms wrapped around me tightly in an attempt to restrict my movements and prevent me from shooting another cable. I jerked violently in his arms until he had to let go in order to keep us in the air. Seeing an opening, I threw my punch behind me, effectively hitting him in the face. He instinctively let go of me, and I immediately flew away as fast as I could. No one was going to stop me from taking vengeance for my big brother. I was going to slaughter the bitch in this titan. I made no hesitation as I flew toward her on my 3DMG, venomous blood boiling in my veins.

**"YOU BITCH!"** I screamed as loud as I possibly could, readying my blades as I sped towards the nape of its neck. When I came close enough, I sliced through the air preparing to cut out its vital spot.

Only to hear the sound of the shattering metal as my blades impacted a layer of crystal and broke into small pieces. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my long blades were nothing but small stumps of metal in my hands. My rage disappeared, replaced by pure shock.

_'How?!'_

Her large head suddenly turned toward me, her eyes on me as I landed on a nearby tree, dumbfounded. Out of the corner of my eye, her arm came flying at me with tremendous force. I quickly leaped off and manuevered my way to safety.

_'That was close...'_

Except my close call was far from over with. The female titan continued to swat at me, as if I was a bothersome fly that needed to be extinguished. I dodged each blow as quickly as I could, but her speed seemed to increase with every strike that she made toward me. Before long, I'd be...

I suddenly felt the cable of my 3D maneuver gear being jerked with great force. My head snapped toward the cable to find the female titan's hand around it. I immediately sliced through the thin wire before she could use it to throw me. She tossed the cable that I had abandoned to the side, continuing after me. I couldn't use my gear due to the imbalance so I was helpless as I fell toward the earth.

I saw the female titan raise her foot up, in a kicking stance. I no longer felt fury. Instead...the adrenaline still pumping through my veins causing me to be incredibly alert. My stomach churned violently. So this was it. This was going to how I died. It wasn't the dreary, dull end I had always expected. Maybe one day, David's death...and my death wouldn't be in vain. I shut my eyes tight, waiting for the female titan to kill me...

The sudden roar of another Titan startled me. I hadn't even realized that one had appeared. I felt myself immediately grabbed by a giant hand, with the intent to protect me. My eyes immediately stared upward as Eren's titan form took a violent kick, the one that was meant for me.

"EREN!" I screamed loudly.

Steam radiated from where the Female titan had kicked him. He didn't move at first, terrifying me. He couldn't be...he wasn't...

Then his head snapped toward the enemy, a loud and infuriated roar filling the air, and I instinctively covered my ears. He raised his hand up to place me on a high up branch before turning around to face the Female titan.

"EREN!" I yelled, shooting my cables toward the two fighting titans. I had to help Eren out somehow. Deciding to attempt to slow the Female Titan's movement, I flew around as best as I could with one functional cable, slicing my blades through any joint I could. At the rate I was going, I'd run out of gas before the others came to help. Now that I thought about it, we must have strayed a good way away if no one was here yet. It was all my fault...

But I couldn't succumb to guilt or grief again. Not yet. Right now, I had to make sure I did everything in my power to help a comrade in need. It was my duty as a soldier.

I had just made a deep slash in the back of the Female Titan's knee when I heard her roar fill the forest. Eren's titan had the upper hand against her, fixing to bring her to the ground. Until suddenly, she brought her leg out and kicked his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground, shaking the entire forest. She leaned over him slowly, head reaching for the back of his neck. I knew she was going to try and rip Eren out of the neck, and I had to stop her. I flew over until I was directly in front before zooming in close to her face. Her hand started to reach for me when I slung the blades out of the 3D maneuver gear triggers. Just as I had desperately hoped, the swords flew toward her eyes until cutting deep inside of them, temporarily blinding her.

Using every spare second possible, I ran toward the nape of the wounded Titan's neck. His body had begun steaming, indicating that Eren's titan form wasn't going to last much longer. I needed to get him out, fast. Quickly reloading my blades, I carefully stabbed into the neck, slicing inside until I could see him. His body slowly began to rise up, but he was unconscious and still fused with the muscle of the titan. I hurriedly wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled, trying to free him. I didn't have much time though. Her eyes would regenerate in under a minute if my calculations were correct. I turned back to look at the danger, horrified to discover that one of her eyes had already healed completely. Returning my eyes to Eren, I realized that there was not enough time to pry him free in time. I picked my blade back up, tightly gripping it.

"Sorry, Eren..." I mumbled before cutting through his flesh and the decaying titan flesh around him. He was still unconscious, but he screamed loudly as I cut his arms and legs out of their prison. The Female Titan was almost there when I got Eren free. Immediately, I shot a cable toward a nearby tree, yanking Eren with me. Had it been a second later, the approaching enemy would have finished us off. Of course, we were nowhere near out of these woods, no pun intended.

I dragged my unconscious comrade with me as I backed away from her, not wanting to waste anymore gas. The chances of me escaping on foot dragging a wounded man with me...there was no chance. I kept stepping back away from her slowly approaching form; why she was taking so long to kill us, I had no idea. Maybe this was the torture before she killed us. All of a sudden, my foot slipped as I took one more step back. I struggled frantically to regain my balance, looking behind me to realize that I had led us into a death trap. Behind me was a steep cliff, incredibly high up. There's no way anyone could survive a fall like that. Even someone like Eren and Annie in their titan form would experience severe damage from the impact.

But at this point, I didn't have much of a choice.

I made sure I had a tight grip on Eren, as well as one of the triggers of the 3D maneuver gear before I pulled us over the edge. As we fell down toward the ground at an incredible speed, I looked up to see the Female Titan looking over the edge. I don't think she was expecting such an extreme action from me. Squinting against the air friction as it burned my eyes, I saw the faintest trace of a whole in the ledge, to what must have been a tiny cave. I immediately aimed my cable and shot line toward it. Luckily, it buried deep inside the wall of the cliff, hoping to God that maybe, just maybe, the Female titan had given up and left and hadn't seen where I was trying to go.

Damn, I better quit pressing my luck before I lost what little I had left.

Struggling to support Eren's weight, I climbed my way up the cable, not willing to risk using the gas propulsion method. It was hard; my muscles burned as I tried to support both our weight on such a thin cable. Being a girl, I had always wanted to prove I was strong, but even I had to admit that women were not built for such a challenge. I wished Eren was awake already so that I didn't have to worry about dropping his ass...

At that very moment, he seemed to groan, answering my silent prayers.

"Jaeger." I called to him. "Jaeger! Wake up now!"

After a moment of no response, I got incredibly frustrated as well as a little scared. I wasn't sure how much longer I could do this.

"Please, Eren. Wake up..." I begged. "I need your help."

He responded more this time. I felt him move slowly, as if just waking up from sleep. I sighed in relief; he was finally conscious. "Wha...where are we?...HUH?!"

His eyes were now wide open as they realized we were suspended in the air by only a thin cable. His hands immediately flew to grab a tight hold on the thin line while my arm around his torso tightened in response to his quick movements. God knows, I don't need to go save his ass if he were to slip out of my grasp and fall. Then again, he just might survive a fall like this.

"What the hell?!"

"I'll explain once we're both up there." I told him as I gestured upward with my head. Realizing that he was now supporting himself on the cable, I removed my arm from around his torso. He climbed up ahead of me, slowly. I knew he was probably still week from fighting in his titan form, but I wished he'd hurry up. My arms weren't going to support me forever, and I was still pretty scared being this high up.

I was really relieved when he finally climbed onto the small ledge ahead of us. My arms were burning in pain as I tried to continue climbing. The metal cable in my hands was digging painfully into my palms, causing my hands to become raw and sting. Ignoring the burning sensation, I slowly continued to pull myself up. I put my hand on the ledge, preparing to climb onto it.

Then my hand slipped.

I screamed in absolute terror as my body was swung around to face out from the cliff, allowing me to look down at the very far off ground. My fear of heights fought for control of my body as I clutched the cable for dear life. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why would I sign on to be a soldier that fly around on a daily basis if I was so terrified of heights?

"Ayla, take my hand!" I heard Eren call out to me from above. I couldn't find it in me to move at first.

"Ayla. Take my hand and I'll help you!" he said again, this time his words reaching me. I closed my eyes to forget where I was as I reached toward his hand. I relaxed some as the large, strong, warm hand enclosed around mine. To be honest, his hand around mine made me start to think about how weak I really was. He helped me as I climbed up and didn't let go of my hand until I was safely on top.

* * *

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

"Uhhhhh...What happened?" I asked as I still tried to remember what had exactly happened. The last thing I remembered was that the Female Titan had knocked me off my feet. I was completely in her power...so where was she now? Where was I now?!

All I knew was now, Ayla and I seemed to have just narrowly avoided falling to our deaths. Right now, I sat next to where she was lying, seeming as if she was trying to calm down. I stood up slowly, pain shooting up through my body. I felt like I'd been slung around like a rag doll. Which I guess I kind of was. Apparently, I hadn't done much good for anyone today. And it just pissed me off. Annie had escaped again, and I hadn't been able to defeat her. What good was I to humanity if I couldn't even fight?

Speaking of fighting Annie...

"Are you fucking crazy?!" I immediately scolded Ayla in complete irritation as she sat up. "What in the hell were you thinking?!"

The girl sitting beside me suddenly jumped to her feet. "Oh? So there's no _'Thanks for saving my ass from Annie, Ayla_', huh?"

"You're the one who put my ass in danger in the first place! Had you not gone off like someone mentally insane, I wouldn't have had to transform!"

"Well, no one said you _HAD _to, Jaeger!"

"No one said you _HAD_ to save me either, Keefe!" I yelled in frustration and anger. "Do you even remember what happened to those who died in the last Squad Levi!?"

"YES!" She screamed back, fists clenched like she was going to hit me. "I **_know _**what happened! But all I know is that I had to do SOMETHING!"

"Are you **_fucking _**stupid or something?!" I ran over to her, causing her to back away from me. I was on the edge of losing my head. Okay, maybe a little over the edge. The action must have seemed a lot more aggressive than I had meant, since she reacted defensively. But I was too pissed to even care. "THAT HOMICIDAL BITCH KILLED _ALL_ OF SQUAD LEVI! SOME OF THE MOST EXPERIENCED OF THE SURVEY CORPS AND YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GO AND FIGHT HER ON YOUR _OWN_?!"

She merely stared up at me, anger in her own face. But I saw just the tiniest flicker of surprise in her eyes. It's almost as if she didn't know what had happened. But I didn't let up, far too riled up to stop now.

"I saw it happen myself! Watched as each one of them were killed! And you know what?! It's all_ MY_ fault! Because I didn't transform when I had the chance! I'm sick of watching all of my friends _DIE _in front of me, dammit! _SO ACT LIKE YOU HAVE SOME SENSE, YOU IDIOT_!"

I backed away at that moment, feeling the urge to hit something. My fist rammed into the wall of the small, damp cave we were in. I think I might have even broken my knuckles, but I didn't even notice in my fury. All I could feel was a small, stinging sensation. I just couldn't take it. Seeing someone else die back turned against my comrade, I took deep breaths to calm myself down. Slowly, I turned back toward her to see she was looking toward the entrance of the cave.

Ayla was quiet for a few moments before she decided to say anything to me. "We better get some rest. You're exhausted from your injuries. We'd be titan food for sure going back out there now."

That's all she said.

Her calm, emotionless voice immediately cleared my mind of the annoyance and anger I had held toward her just seconds earlier. Maybe...maybe I was being too hard on her. She had saved my life, after all. Brave for an ordinary girl. Even for one the Survey Corps.

I watched as she laid down on the hard, cold ground. Her Survey Corps cloak wrapped around her, she faced away from me and remained silent. I wasn't sure what to say; I knew that I should apologize because we would surely die if we didn't work together on getting back to the walls.

"Ayla?" I called to her gently. Sitting down, I shifted my body so that I could look at her. She was still facing away from me curled into a ball, shivering now. I waited patiently for an answer, but all I got in return was more silence.

"Ayla..." I called again, a little louder than before.

"What?"

There was something about her tone that caught me off guard. Sure, it had a pissy, annoyed tone to it. But beneath that, there was something else. Something I recognized all to well.

Grief.

"Are..." I started to ask. "Are you crying?"

"Why the hell do you even care?!"

I hadn't meant it to be mean to her. It was just that...I'd never seen or even heard of her crying before. Who'd have thought it, Ayla Keefe crying. In our trainee days, she had nearly broken her hand punching a wall. While she had cursed out in obvious pain, not one tear even attempted to fill her eyes. Now...

I remembered what had happened when we had encountered the Female titan. Her former squad leader had been crushed to death in her grasp. Not only her squad leader, but her own brother. Part of her family...

I could understand what she was going through. The day my mother was eaten by a titan started to come to my thoughts. I fought to press it back. That had been years ago. Her brother probably hadn't even been dead an hour.

"Listen...I know we don't...know each other all that well...and obviously don't see eye to eye."

Her body moved toward me, though she still didn't completely turn to face me.

"But...I'm sorry...if I had transformed sooner...maybe I could've saved-"

"I don't blame you." Ayla interrupted me. "If anyone should apologize...it's me."

My eyes grew wide in shock. "Why?"

"If I hadn't let my pride and emotions get the better of me..." she gave a deep breath. The girl in front of me seemed as if she could use three days of sleep as she looked at me finally and continued. "I got careless with my own life, and that almost got two killed today."

I shrugged my shoulders, giving a friendly grin. "I've had a lot of near death experiences...I pretty much expect them now..."

I laughed to try and lighten the mood. Ayla just remained silent as she sat there with a grim look on her face. Losing someone close to you on the battlefield in such a gruesome way, but we needed to stay focused if we were going to make it back to the walls. I was about to speak again, when she suddenly blurted out.

"If I had just stayed with Squad Levi, there might have even been a small chance my brother would have made it alive. Do you know what distracted him? _Me. I'm_ the reason he took her eyes off of her._ I'm_ the reason she caught him and crushed him to death! _I'm_ the reason my brother is _dead!_"

Her eyes were overflowing with tears. She tried to wipe them away, but no matter what she did they kept coming. Her voice was shaky as she continued. "It's all my fault! I may as well have killed him myself!"

"Hey." I interrupted her, scooting over to sit beside her. She refused to look at me as she continued to cry uncontrollably. "You're way too hard on yourself, Ayla. You didn't kill him. That bitch did. Don't blame yourself."

I reluctantly put an arm around her to give her an awkward hug. Her sobbing didn't stop, but it was softer than it had been. She slowly relaxed at the gesture, her body no longer shaking.

Ayla gave a deep breath finally, no longer crying. "I'm...sorry."

"No need to apologize...I'm sorry for screaming at you like that..."

"I deserved it. So I forgive you." she replied. "But...what do we do now?"

"Let's try to rest while we can, like you said." I answered. "Then when night falls, we set off. Sound like a plan?"

She was slow to reply. "Yeah..."

I took what was left of my Survey Corps cloak and folded it until it would serve as a pillow. It wasn't going to be a comfortable night. But it would be better than being exposed to the titans. Here at least, we were safer. Behind me, I heard Ayla move restlessly and sigh.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing, really. My mind is too restless to sleep..."

"Hey. Try not to think about what happened anymore." I told her, closing my eyes to get some sleep. "It'll eat you alive..."

The small cave we were in grew silent, save for the wind howling against the steep, jagged cliff outside. The chill of the air made me shiver as I tried to sleep. It would be a long day tomorrow.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ So...how was it, everyone? I tried really hard to make this a good chapter. And call me sadistic if you want, but I'll be honest that originally Kai was the one who would die first. But my best friend is in love with Kai and threatened me. So here he is, and Isabella is my best friend's oc._

_I gotta admit, their characters are cute together. :3_

_Anyway, I gotta go. Hopefully, the next chapter won't be too far off. Until next time!_


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: _**_Hello, readers! It has been a long time, hasn't it? I'm sorry for the long wait. COLLEGE has drained me of my time and energy. No joke, I crash as soon as I get home from classes and only awaken to eat and shower._

_Anyway, I won't lie. This chapter isn't very eventful. I just couldn't think of anything good based off that last chapter. The plot just can't seem to stick in my head, everyone. I t keepss changing! Argggg!_

_Anyway, hopefully this chapter is decent anyway._

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

_'The boy walked toward me, quietly and cautiously, as if he didn't want to scare me. I stood my ground, staring at him as he came closer and closer until he finally stopped. I had no escape route now as he stood only a foot away from me. If this guy wanted a fight, I'd give him one definitely._

_But he did something else that was completely unexpected._

_With a shy smile on his face, he slowly held out his hand toward me, a gesture for me to take it. I merely stared at for a minute. Why did he feel so familiar to me?_

_"Lady Ayla...I have been searching for you everywhere."_

_Suddenly, a memory came to my mind, though it didn't seem to belong to me. For as far back as I could recall, this particular image had no place in my mind._

_There was a lot of fire, brightly consuming everything as it illuminated the dark sky all around. The smell of burning flesh filled my nose as I walked down the pathway that led to what apparently used to be a large mansion. I don't know what possessed me to keep going toward the inferno before me, but I continued without hesitation. It was when I had walked up the many stairs leading to the house that I saw her._

_Long caramel colored hair flew around her as the turbulent wind roared around her. And there was...blood...all over her, including a sharp metal object in her hand. And...the dead person she held by the hair was..._

_"NO!" I shouted, snapping out of the vision, and then slapped the boy's hand away._

_His eyes widened in surprise to begin with, while beside me, Isabella looked at me in worry, as if I had been hurt. The boy merely withdrew his hand. His expression became blank as he still continued to watch me. I was startled by his unrelenting gaze, as well as my own outburst._  
_Izzy put a hand on my shoulder and gently shook me. "Hey! Are you okay? Ayla!"_

_"Yeah..." I said as turned towards her. "I'm...fine."_

_The look on Isabella's face told me she didn't believe me at all. I forced myself to grin to try and reassure her, while we both began to leave, abandoning the boy behind us._

_"What did that guy do to you?" Izzy whispered to me, so low that the guy behind us had no chance of overhearing._

_"He didn't do anything, Izzy. Don't worry."_

_At the same time, we turned around to look back at him. Only to find him...not there. We could only stand there in surprise for a few moments until we both decided to just go back to our room._

_"So...do you know him? He acted like he knew you." She asked me as we reached the door. I took a deep breath before I answered her._

_"I...I don't know..."_

I bolted upright from where I was lying, drenched in a cold sweat. That dream. Except it was so much more than a dream now. That boy really existed. And...he had been looking for me. For what reason, I didn't have a clue. Maybe he was part of my lost memories. But 'Lady'? Why had he called me that? He probably had mistaken me for another.

It was dark so for a few minutes it startled me until the events of yesterday returned. My attention turned to the opening of the cave, only to see nothing except the million sparkling points in the black sky. It was night now and that meant titans couldn't move as fast; we needed to headed out.

Across the small chamber, Eren was still asleep, filling the otherwise silent cave with his soft snoring. I quietly crawled over to him.

"Hey, Eren!" I called to him, gently shaking his shoulder. "Wake up."

"Mmm..." Eren groaned sleepily, rolling away from my touch. "Just a few more minutes..."

I shook him harder. "Eren, come on!"

This time, he rolled over to face me before sitting up. His hair was messy, sticking in every direction, so terribly adorable that I had to turn away. I snatched up my cloak, wrapping it around my shoulders. Eren gave a yawn from behind as I started to stand up. I didn't know how we were going to make it back to the rest of the formation, but we had to at least try.

"Hey, how are your legs?" I asked absent-minded, not realizing how awkward my words must have sounded. "I had to cut you out of your titan. So I hope they grew back okay."

Eren looked down at his legs, examining for any abnormalities. "Look fine to me..."

I gave a very low sigh of relief. It was nice to know that I hadn't messed up his legs. That would have been a pain in the ass when we tried to travel.

It was so dark in this cavern. We had to rely solely on feeling as we made our way further. It was so dark we may as well have been like blind people. Eren walked ahead while I followed closely behind him. All we could hear were the occasional drips of water falling to the stone floor and our own footsteps as we made our way through the dark cavern. I thought about how screwed we were. Sure, we might be safe from titans. But what if there's something that can actually see in an environment this dark? We would have no way to fight.

"You know, the rest of the Corps probably left us." Eren commented, interrupting my pondering. "I don't blame them though. But we can make it back to the walls by ourselves."

I let out a sigh before replying. "I doubt they would leave you behind, Jaeger. You're too valuable for humanity."

His sarcastic laugh filled the air. "Whatever. I feel completely useless. Don't know why they'd need me. I couldn't even defeat Annie...not now...or then..."

"Hey, Titan boy. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. There's no time...lets just get the fuck out of here. I'm getting creeped out. So you can worry about that later."

He gave a mocking chuckle at my remarks, his smart ass mouth coming back. "You're afraid of the dark? And here I thought you were a badass."

Jeez. If he kept this up, there wouldn't be any need for him to worry about a titan killing him. I'd murder him and feed him to the titans myself. "Watch your mouth, punk."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Lots of people are-"

"Dammit, where the hell are you?! I can't see a damn thing."" I exclaimed in annoyance, partially at his commentary. Mostly because I honestly couldn't see.

"I'm right here, Ayla." Eren said, seemingly just as annoyed.

"Whose idea was it to travel in the dark in the first place?!"

"Yours, Keefe. You suggested it. Here, I'm gonna reach for you, okay?"

Suddenly, I felt something warm touch me on my chest. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that what it was. A light pressure then squeezed the ara, causing me to squeak in surprise. My heart beat wildly in my chest, an unexpected reaction. But my hand clenched into a fist subconsciously, and I let it snap forward toward the direction the hand came from.

"OW! THE HELL?" Eren yelled. "You just punched me in the face!"

"Well, you just groped me. Pay the price, you pervert."

"Wait...what...?" Eren asked slowly as he processed what I'd said. I couldn't tell what look was on his face, but the way he reacted made me think that he was blushing. "Oh. My. God. HOLY SHIT. I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I SWEAR! I THOUGHT IT WAS YOUR ARM OR SOMETHING!"

I merely rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see them. "Whatever. Lets just go..."

* * *

**_Eren's P.O.V._**

That had to have been the most awkward moment of my life. In fact, I was really...embarrassed. I generally didn't get humiliated, but right now...ugh. In all honesty, I thought it was her arm. But it had been a long time since either of us had even spoken to each other.

It seemed to take forever to travel across the dark cavern. I was wondering if we were ever going to make it out of here, since we only had the walls to tell where we were going. It was just when I was about to suggest we take a break when I felt a warm breeze blow.

"Hey, Ayla." I said. "Do you feel that, too?"

"The breeze?" She specified. Her voice was calm, showing no hint of anger from earlier. "Yeah. We must be near an exit."

"Agreed. Looks like we won't die in this cave after all." I commented light heartedly, trying to lighten the mood.

We marched in the direction the wind had come from. It died down for a bit before roaring back to life, helping us as we traveled, completely deprived of our vision. Soon though, we were able to make out faint traces of light. From how it appeared, I took it to be moonlight as it illuminated some rocks. We were damn lucky it wasn't a new moon. Otherwise, we would never have made it. I quickly climbed up the pile of rocks that led up to the exit, possibly a result from the tunnel trying to collapse. I scanned the area around us, looking for anything threatening. Titans generally moved slowly at night; hopefully we could find another safe place to stay until we could find some supplies. Maybe if we were careful, a couple of horses.

I turned around just as Ayla had hoisted herself up from the hole I had just crawled through. Giving a big grin, I couldn't help but feel good about finding our way out.

"Finally!" I quietly shouted. "We can actually see what's in front of us."

She slowly rose to her feet, dusting some dirt off of her face and uniform. Scanning the area like I had, she relaxed more when she realized there was no immediate threat. When she was finished, she gave a triumphant grin of her own.

"Well, we're out of that cave finally." She replied happily, stretching her arms.

"Hey, maybe it was better in there." I told her. "Other than the pitch black darkness and rocky obstacles, at least a titan couldn't get to us."

"I guess that's true...But anyway...what now? Should we get up in a tree and rest until the next evening?"

"What we do during that time?"

"Well, obviously gather some supplies. Maybe look for a herd of horses and think of how to catch them."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I agreed. It was really a hell of a lot better planning than I had even considered. "Hey..."

"What is it?"

"I...really didn't mean to...well, I'm sorry...for earlier..."

"What?" She asked, seeming confused.

"I didn't..." I blushed really hard, really humiliated that I had to specify what my apology was for. Fuck, I couldn't believe this. "I...didn't mean to touch you...inappropriately...earlier..."

I looked away, not wanting to meet her gaze. I was too fucking embarrassed. However, she calmly replied, "No harm done so don't worry about it."

"But-" I started to say. "Wait...why the fuck did you punch me then if you weren't-?!"

"I said don't worry about it." Ayla cut me off, sliding down the hill until she reached the bottom. "Come on, hurry up. We want to get back to the walls, right?"

"Well, yeah." I said, following after her. I was still training to develop my hardening ability. The new ability I figured out how to use was essential to our mission to reseal Wall Maria. After that, we would head for the basement of my old home. Dying out here in the middle of enemy territory was not an option.

"Yeah..." she replied. "It'd be nice to keep you around and reclaim some lost territory."

I remained silent as I looked on. As I observed the surrounding area, a new question had come to mind. Where exactly were we?

Better question. How were we going to travel without 3DMGs? Or even a horse? The more I thought about it, the more impossible this journey seemed to become. I wondered what our odds were if I transformed, but that didn't seem like a good idea to me. Our best option was to just travel on foot as best as we could. I had no clue how we would do that very well, considering the place is crawling with titans.

All of a sudden, Ayla walked past me at a quick pace. I had no idea where she was going, but it was true we needed to keep moving. Hopefully, we were heading in the right direction.  
Suddenly, the ground underneath me seemed to open up. as I took a step, my foot went through the ground followed by my whole leg falling through.

"SHIT!" I yelled, startled by what had just happened.

It sounded and felt almost like wooden boards had given out underneath me. But why would they be all the way out here? And what's the hole underneath it for?

"Eren?" Ayla called, seeing my leg stuck thigh deep in the ground. "What the hell happened?"

"Damn if I know." I pulled my leg out of the whole before turning around to look inside.  
Below our feet appeared to be a basement-like room. The boards that it was made of appeared to be rotting, explaining why my foot had fallen through it. It appeared as though people had lived in here a very long time ago. There were books and dishes on the shelves. A large bed sat in the corner, covered with dust and grime from years of being unused. Cobwebs lay thick in every corner.

I lifted my head out of the hole. "There's some kind of room down here."

"What?" Ayla replied, seeming surprised at my news. "Out here? Are you serious?"

"Seriously. It looks as though people might have lived in it even before the walls were built."

Ayla walked over to where I was. I moved over to allow her to look for herself. It really didn't make much sense for it to be all the way out here. After all, who knows how far away from the walls we were at this point in time. Maybe an old home used to stand here? But then again, we'd see some evidence of that. Ayla lifted her head back out. "That really is strange...Hmmmm..."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Maybe this was what people did back before the walls were built to try and hide from the titans when they first appeared. That's just a guess, but I mean...it's strange that there's no debris from a house..."

I had to agree with that. "That actually sounds like a good explanation. I mean, I was just thinking about how there wasn't anything hinting that it might've been a basement..."

All of a sudden, I heard loud thumping noises in the distance. They were all too familiar to me; they definitely belonged to a titan. Of course, I wasn't suprised. I mean obviously it would've been too good to be true if we had been able to get home without making contact with one. I reached out and lightly pushed Ayla toward the opening in the ground; it was the best cover we had right now.

"Get in the hole, Keefe." I told her.

"Hey-" she started to complain.

"Just get in!" I ordered, gently trying to push her in. She suddenly snatched and slapped my hand away, frustrated at my urgency I guess. She then lowered herself quickly into the hole. I followed right behind her.

"...Ugh...You're right. This place looks older than the walls themselves." Ayla commented in a whisper, wandering around the small room. "And smells it, too."

As the thuds grew louder and closer, we quickly and quietly scrambled to find a corner to keep hidden and silent in. We were basically screwed since my 3DMG had been fried and Ayla's had severe damage to it plus a gas leak in one tank. So the best we would be able to do was hide here and hope like hell it didn't find us. I grabbed Ayla's arm and pulled her into the corner I was in; it was possibly the best place in the room considering it was the furthest away from the opening.

The thudding of the titan's feet seemed to last for a couple hours; whether it was because it knew we were near by or just naturally that slow at night. Either way, it took a long time before we felt safe enough to move around.

"...Um...Eren...?" Ayla finally whispered.

"Huh?"

"You can...let my arm go now..."

"O-oh..." I immediately withdrew my hand. "Sorry..."

Awkward silence hung in the air for a while, neither of us saying anything. I started walking around the room, observing all the details. There were a few books on the shelf, though judging from the spines they were written in an old language. I had no clue what they said since I couldn't read the language.

After exploring for a bit, I sat down on the dusty old bed in the room. It creaked in protest, probably from years of neglect. Ayla had sat down in the chair at the built-in desk, looking through one of the books.

"You're pretty quiet." She commented. "You usually have something to say about everything."

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" I asked her, being a smart ass. "Since I always seem to have something to say."

"I don't know..." Ayla calmly replied. "Uhh...what district are you from?"

"I'm from Shiganshina...back when it was a district...It's where I was born and raised until..." I stopped, not wanting to let my emotions overcome me. I quickly decided to shift the conversation in another direction. "I met Armin back when we were really little. Like...four or five. He was one of the first friends I ever had."

She smiled, as if remembering something. "I've been friends with Isabella for as long as I can remember...but I don't know if we were friends before that or not..."

What? The hell did that mean? Ayla wasn't making any sense.

"If you can't remember any further back, then obviously you two were friends since what? Infancy? It's understandable that you wouldn't remember."

"It's not that..." she replied, seeming a little uncomfortable with the turn this conversation had taken. I was just confused as hell. What is she saying? That it's abnormal to not remember something from when you were a baby?

I waited quietly for her to explain, but she made no move on her own to clarify what she meant. Finally, I decided to go ahead and ask. "Can you explain what you mean?"

"I...can't remember as far back as most people..." Ayla started. "At some point in time...I lost memories...and I still haven't regained them..."

I sat there quietly for a moment. So she was an amnesiac? That wasn't something I expected. From the way she talks though, it happened a long time ago. "How far back can you remember?"

"I can remember from times when I was seven...but nothing any further back..." she frowned in frustration. "My dad said that I fell off a wagon and hit my head..."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Shouldn't you be able to remember then? I mean, it shouldn't have lasted this long."

"That's why I get the feeling...he's not telling me something. I hate to think that of my own father..." she stood up then, walking over to look out at. "But I can't think of any other explanations..."

I sat quietly, not really certain of what to say to that. But if she felt that way, hey, that was her issue.

"So what district were you in before joining the military?" I asked.

"Well, our house was in the Karanese district, but we spent more time in Shiganshina. My mom died when I was eight so Dad often spent time near her grave."

I sat quietly for a moment or two before I replied. "I lost my mom, too. She died when the titans' broke through Wall Maria."

I wasn't particularly wanting to remember the details of that day, so I just kept it brief. Apparently, the expression gave away my hesitation at the topic.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have pried..." Ayla said.

"It's fine. I asked first after all." I immediately replied. "Anyway, we ought to try to-"

Just as I was about to suggest we try and get comfortable for a little bit before continuing, I start to hear more footsteps. Except these were different. They were lighter, and there was a lot more. It sounded like...a group of some kind of animals was running by. I grabbed a chair from the desk and pulled it under the hole in the ceiling leading to the outside.

"Do you hear that, too?"

"Yeah...What are those, horses?"

As carefully as I could, I stood up in the chair and peeked through the hole. Just as we had suspected, a small group of horses were running by, carrying something on their backs...

As soon as I realized what it was on their backs, I hurriedly tried lifting myself up off the chair. There was no good place to use my feet to aid in doing this. And the hole was tinier that I remembered. While I struggled, I shouted at the people on horseback.

"HEEYYY! OVER HERE!"

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V_**

As Eren yelled out to the thumping noises, I could only think of who and why he had been shouting at; it must be the Survey Corps! This was really just ridiculously lucky for us. Normally, soldiers died by being eaten out here, but I guess Eren's worth as a...'weapon' you could say must have helped this situation significantly.

"Shit, they can't hear me." Eren hissed frustrated.

"Oh!" I suddenly realized that I had something that could help. I hurriedly reached at the gun clip at my side and pulled out the flare gun we used in formation. "This might work."

"Might've mentioned that sooner."

"Move!" I demanded, pulling off the chair he was standing in. I climbed up on top and held the flare gun up, so it was pointing toward the sky and out of the hole.

_'Let's hope I didn't bust it with all the rough landings I've been making here lately…'_

Covering one ear with my hand, I pulled the trigger.

**A few hours later...**

"Ayla!" I heard a voice call out to me.

It took a few shots before the Survey Corps had noticed where they were coming from. As soon as they had turned in our direction, Eren climbed up out of the hole, then helped me out. We were met by Heichou, Mikasa, Hanji, and a few other soldiers that I personally didn't recognize. But by Eren's reaction, he knew some of them.

There was only one available horse so I had to ride with Eren. It made me uncomfortable, but I realized that it was crucial we leave quickly. Especially after we encountered a couple of titans on the way back. We had just arrived back with the rest and I was just getting off the horse when the voice called my name.

I turned around to find Kai and Isabella standing there, relieved faces while looking at me.

"Kai! Izzy! You're both alright!" I happily exclaimed, throwing myself at them. My arms wrapped them both in a tight hug that refused to ever let go. My family hugged me back just as tightly. Kai pulled away and let out a choked laugh.

"Look who's talking. Of course we're fine."

Isabella pulled away too, seeming to tear from the eyes but she managed to have a very stern look still. "We're not impulsive like you. What were you thinking?"

Kai answered before I could. "Correct answer: she wasn't. Seriously, Ayla. You have got to use your head more."

My face turned red in annoyance, only to immediately turn pale again out of sadness. I knew just how much trouble my actions had gotten not only me, but a few others in. And I would have to live with those consequences for the rest of my life.

Kai and Isabella seemed to understand why my demeanor had changed so suddenly. We all fell silent, not really knowing what would be the right thing to say in this circumstance. Though I doubt any normal person would know.

"Miss Keefe." I looked in the officer's direction.

"Yes, sir." I told him, acknowledging I had heard him.

"Come with me."

Without a word, I left my brother and best friends l' sides and followed behind the officer. "Sir, where are you taking me?"

"Just for some identification of a deceased soldier."

My stomach churned violently at the words. "O-oh...ummm...sir?"

"Yes?"

"How many...were lost today?"

"Total casualties were eleven." The officer told me as he led me to where they had laid out the dead they had recovered. "Of course no casualty is good, but considering it was the Female Titan, we could've seen a lot worse."

I looked around me, feeling a bit nauseous. After all, he was taking me to identify a dead body. As much as I wanted to cry, I knew that I had to keep my emotions in check. But this was like my worst nightmare come true. I remember when I was little and David had first joined the Survey Corps. Every time he'd come home would give me a huge relief while any time he left would cause me to start crying and begging him to not leave. One day in particular, I made him a lucky charm from carving a piece of wood. I gave it to him as a necklace and asked him to wear it as protection. He immediately put it on, and said he'd always wear it.

But who knows if he continued doing that when I joined the military. He probably quit wearing it and put it away when I got older.

The officer stopped when we reached our destination. When I turned to my left, there were eleven green humps of cloth lined up neatly in a row. Whoever laid them this way carefully made certain that you couldn't see any details that would identify what the humps we. That is, the only hint was the uniform boots that stuck out from underneath.

My stomach churned.

"Your squad identified this man as your squad leader." The officer informed as he bent over to lift the cover up, revealing a face familiar to me. "Do you also agree with that?"

I felt like throwing up, and I might have if not for the fact my stomach was empty. The face of the dead soldier was that of my older brother's. It was so...empty. Someone had been kind enough to clean him up a little and wiped blood off of his face. They had also closed his eyes, another thing to be thankful for; it made him appear as though he was only sleeping.

It was taking every ounce of self-control I had not to breakdown. With a hint of shaking in my voice, I told the officer my answer. "Yes, that's him."

"Alright. Everyone is in agreement." The officer replied. "Thank you, miss."

It was then something caught my eye, a thin string around my brother's neck. I called out to the officer. "Sir, there's something around my brother's neck. May I?"

"Yes, you may." He answered, not having even glanced back.

I walked over to the body of what used to be my brother and squatted down beside him. His face looked so calm, I could've sworn he was merely sleeping. My hand reached out and pulled whatever was on the end of the string. When I could see the charm at the end, I gasped.

It was the very charm that I'd made for him so many years ago.

It wasn't long after that the rest of us in the formation quickly began again, heading towards the walls again to retreat. But I couldn't tell you any details about it. I paid no attention to the scenery, the sounds, the sights, or anything.

All I could focus on was the small necklace in my hand.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ There we go! It's a lot of writing, but I guess it may not tell too much in terms of plot. Maybe this could be used in character development? Lol, I don't know. But it felt great getting a chance to work on it again. School has just been murdering me lately._

_Anyway, next chapter is actually already in the works! Maybe I'll finish at a decent speed this time! See ya next time!_


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N:_**_ Almost a year exactly since I updated...but here is the new chapter. I didn't give up on it. It's just every idea in my head seemed crappy. But I might have **finally **gotten through the writer's block. Anyway, thank you to those who have reviewed before. I hope you like this chapter! More adventure will come, but it'll definitely be different than the manga because I **just** got caught up on the last four chapters. 0_0_

_Should I start over again and try to follow the manga though?_

_Also, I changed the main OC's name. I wasn't a fan of the first one, so I picked a name that could be a canon universe name **AND **one that I liked. :) There are some small changes to the chapters, too. You can go back and read, but the only thing major is the name change._

_Anyway, see ya later! Hope you like!_

* * *

**Eren's P.O.V.**

Ayla really isn't herself for the next couple of weeks. Well, Kai and Isabella obviously aren't either, but my new squad member is just...really depressing to even look at. Or maybe I just noticed her more than the other two since she was with the group now. She would just stare endlessly at some distant corner of the room, her expression always grim, blank, and empty. She quit trying to pick fights, even with me, choosing to just ignore everyone. Some of our squad would pass her by without a second glance now, as if they were afraid to catch her despair. Others would try and bear it with her since she was new to the group. They tried talking to her and say that it wasn't her fault, although I know she feels it actually kind of is, but nobody says any of that. And neither does Ayla.

I tried to spend the first few days following Squad Leader Keefe's death away from her. For some reason, I couldn't stand to look at her heartbroken gaze. It made me feel the same way. That, or I just wanted to punch her in the face for acting that way. Weak. Afraid. So I would do my best to spend it with the rest of the squad, doing normal duties, training...anything to get away from her and her constant cloud of darkness.

The reason I couldn't stand to be around her was because it reminded me of how I felt when the original Squad Levi had been killed by the Female Titan. Petra Ral, Gunther Schultz, Oluo Bozado, Eld Jinn…all four had been ruthlessly murdered. I blamed myself for their deaths because if I had transformed sooner, maybe they would still be alive. Hell, they would still be alive. And it tore me up on the inside. But I was luckier than Keefe because I didn't really have a chance to grieve. I think that's what made it hard to be around her for me; it was like watching a physical embodiment of grief and guilt wrapped into one.

One day after a couple weeks though, we spoke for the first time since coming back. I was on break of duties for the day so I decided to relax underneath a shade tree near our bunker. I had closed my eyes and just began to drift off when I heard footsteps approach. Looking up, I saw Ayla heading towards me, dressed in her casual clothes, so I guessed she had the day off, too. I didn't say a word when she walked to stand in front of me, nor when she sat down beside me, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. I closed my eyes again, pretending she wasn't there since she didn't seem to want any attention. After a few minutes, she finally spoke. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being the first person to not ask me how I'm doing."

"There's not really any point for me to ask." I told her, opening my eyes and sitting up. I didn't look at her though, because of that look that I'd see in her face. Instead, I just looked out into the fields below. "I already know how you feel."

She didn't say anything for a moment. Out of the corner of my eye though, I saw her playing with something tied around her neck. I'd actually seen her do it a few times before since we returned, usually in the mess hall when she would stare out into space. It was similar to how I'd fidget with the key to my basement that Dad had left me. Just something I did when lost in thought.

For the first time, I turned to look at her. She didn't even glance my way as I just quietly waited for her to say something. I waited, and she still didn't say anything. A little annoyed at the silence, I decided to look around at the scenery. Not much of one, honestly, but it beat focusing on the awkward silence. I kind of jumped when all of her sudden her hand touched mine. I hadn't meant to act like an ass, it just startled me. But apparently, she hadn't meant to even touch, because she'd jerked her hand away just as fast. "S-Sorry..."

"It's okay...What did you need though?"

"What?"

"You came up here to simply thank me for not harassing you? I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just curious as to why you're here. Normally, you wouldn't be."

"Well, normally, David would have us train or something during this time. But...no. I didn't want anything really. Izzy had some chores to finish up on and Kai is studying some books your friend Armin told him about. Just...trying to stay occupied so they don't have to think. They have their own ways of dealing with...what happened and I didn't want to disrupt that...but I didn't know where to go really, but I wanted to get away from all the noise."

That was the most I think she's said to anyone outside those two since we got back. But I don't know why she'd choose to talk to me. We weren't exactly friends...I didn't hate her, but we always bickered before. Even in training when I thought about it. We didn't cross paths often, but when we did...well, our friends would have to separate us. It's probably a miracle I didn't kill her when we got separated on that expedition. And vice versa.

Before I could reply, something suddenly flew through the air towards us. It moved so quickly and unexpectedly, that it was just a blur to me. But whatever it was, it slammed itself right into Ayla's forehead, causing her to let out a swear in pain.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?!" I exclaimed frantically to her. She was bent to where I couldn't see her face and had covered her forehead with her hand. In her other hand was a rock, a sharp and not-so-small rock either. There were a couple of drops of blood with it, so it must have cut her forehead.

A familiar, annoying laugh suddenly reached my ears. It was fucking Jean, of course. That pompous bastard always started shit like this. Well, I guess I shouldn't say always, but a vast majority of the time, yes. Usually, it's just what he says. But today…

Jean was coming up the hill, laughing hysterically. "Made a slingshot. Impressive, right? So how hard did I hit you, Jaeger?"

"You're right, that's an impressive little slingshot there. Too bad you can't make one for grown men. Oh, and you have terrible aim, Horse Face. You hit Keefe."

I pointed over at Ayla, who was now holding her hand where the rock had hit her. A laugh erupted from me at the sight of his face immediately horrified at the realization. Anyone who was near her in the trainee corps was that you didn't pull shit like that and walk away without some amount of damage done to them. She was still looking down, deathly quiet. Normally, she would have probably kicked both our asses, but being the way she has, who knows what she would do.

All of a sudden, amidst his frantic apologies to him, Jean suddenly flailed backward. I sat there in shock as I saw that Ayla had thrown the rock at him as hard as possible, and it collided with his cheek. He fell backwards, startled probably by the sudden action. When I turned back to face her, I only saw her bloody face for a second before she sent a fist into my face.

"FUCK!" I yelled as I sprawled backwards. Keefe had some pretty powerful punches for a girl...hell, for most of us. Hers had landed close to my eye, not close enough to do serious damage but enough to probably leave a bruise. It made me fucking dizzy, and I couldn't find my bearings for a second. What the fuck had I done?!

"What the fuck is your problem, Keefe?!" I screamed at her. I wasn't sure what kind of face to expect from her, but when I finally found my bearings...Man, she looked pissed off. Like how she would look in fights before. A look she would have on a daily basis.

Now that she seemed back to normal, I wasn't so sure I didn't prefer the depressed, anti-social behavior.

I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. If she wanted a fight here, then happy fucking birthday to her. Her wish came true. She glared up at me with the familiar, defiant eyes, daring me to hit her and see what happened. There was blood trickling from her forehead from where Jean had hit her with that sharp rock. I almost felt bad. Almost. But after that punch...Damn, she was pissing me off.

"Oi, you brats! What the hell are you doing?"

The voice was Levi Heichou's. I instantly released my grip on Ayla's collar, still l though. Jean had finally sat up, holding his cheek where he had been struck. I simply sat there, waiting on the chewing out we were more than likely fixing to get.

"Just because it's your day off doesn't mean you little shits are allowed to beat the shit out of each other. Seriously, if you are that eager to die, do it on your time."

No one spoke. We all knew it was pointless; Heichou didn't give a shit who started it, but he would finish it. Besides, if you talked back, the punishments were worse. So the three of us just sat there silently, waiting for Heichou to give us the extra chores we knew would come.

"Kirstein, stable duty for two weeks starting tomorrow. Keefe, you're going to clean that entire run down shack to my satisfaction and Jaeger, you're going to help her. And you're going to start _now. _If you two are going to be in my squad, you're going to learn to at least learn respect for each other, even if I have to shove it down your shitty little throats. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

"One more thing, clean yourselves off. Don't you dare track blood in that bunker. And Keefe, see me in my office when you're done." With that, he rode off toward the bunker.

* * *

**_Ayla's P.O.V._**

'_This sucks…'_

When I actually thought about it, I wasn't sure why I had even went to Eren. I mean, it's not like we were friends. In fact, we were probably the furthest thing from 'friends' that you could get. Other than when we got separated from the rest of the Surveys Corps, we openly despised each other. Of course, I hadn't seen Eren since our trainee days before I joined Squad Levi, but all the hostility was still there.

Maybe I went because he had seen David die like I did. Because at least there was at least that connection I could take comfort in. Kai and Isabella only saw the results; Eren and I had seen the actual process.

Whatever my mind's reasoning was, I guess I shouldn't have expected the outcome to be any different. And hey, maybe I shouldn't have retaliated. However, Kirstein was asking for worse than that rock flung in his face. As a matter of fact, it wasn't the first time he'd hit me with a rock. That idiot was always doing some stupid crap, and it was _always _directed at Jaeger. I should've known that something like this would happen when I went to talk to him.

And now here I was, cleaning some ancient, run-down storage building that no one even used anymore. With Eren Jaeger of all people. I honestly think I would have preferred Jean; at least he didn't intentionally pick fights or even seem to hate me the way Eren did.

For the first time in weeks though, I felt something other than grief. I felt anger.

And a lot of it, too.

"Thanks for getting us into this, Keefe." Eren said sarcastically, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I've always wanted to clean a place like this dump."

I shook out my rag of the caked-on dust that had collected on the bookshelf, the result of years of neglect. Gosh, this place was gross. "It's not like it was my fault, entirely. Thank your boyfriend Jean."

"My boyfriend? Ha! Funny coming from someone that used to crush on him in training."

My face turned bright red, I'm sure. Not because of embarrassment, though. No, it came from pure, undiluted fury that I felt. I jumped down from the chair I had been standing in to dust the bookshelf and stormed over to where Eren was cleaning another.

"Where in the **_fuck_** did you hear such a disgusting**_ lie_**?!"

He looked down at me from where he stood on the chair, a smug expression on his shitty face. "Oh, please, Keefe. You always talked to him back in Trost. Even now. I bet you must have cried with joy to hear you would be in the same squad as your precious Jean."

"Um, **_excuse me_**?! I only tolerated him in training because Marco was a mutual friend! And as far as **_now _**is concerned, so far besides Sasha, he's the only one to even attempt to help me adjust into the squad. More so than you or anyone else!"

I actually froze when I mentioned Marco's name. Marco Bott. He'd been one of the few people in the 104th Training Corps that I could actually say I made friends with during that three-year training. He'd been a very friendly and caring guy. And hard-working. He'd graduated within the top 10 of the graduating class, 7th in fact, and laughed at my jealous comments because I'd finished 12th. Although we'd had different career choices (He was going to enter the Military Police, and I wanted to join the Survey Corps), we never made hateful comments to each other about it. We naturally just got along. However, he died in the Battle of Trost, the day after graduation, before he could choose to join the Military Police and live out his dream.

To be honest, I'm surprised that that ridiculous rumor Jaeger had just barked about wasn't about me and Marco. I mean, I honestly didn't ever have a crush on him, but the fact we hung out a lot would've made that rumor more believable. Regardless of that, I still missed him.

Eren had fallen silent at the mention of Marco, too. I wasn't blind to the fact that he was also Marco's friend. That's what kind of person Marco was; you couldn't hate him if you tried. I stood there for a moment, prepared for Eren to make any more smart-ass comments or remarks. But he just went back to dusting the shelves. I silently walked back over to where I had been cleaning. Great, now things were awkward.

It was quiet for a long time after that argument when I started to think. I shouldn't have argued; it wouldn't be like this if I hadn't argued. It was hard to think about him still…but David had once said that I'd be able to get along with others if I just quit running my mouth whenever I disagreed. It was okay to disagree, but you didn't have to be hostile about it all the time. And ignore if someone tried starting a petty argument. Well, it obviously wasn't the first time that I've ignored his advice.

My mind was so deep in thought that it startled me when Eren called my name. "Hey, Keefe."

I actually jumped at the sound of his voice, dropping the book that I was cleaning to the floor. Looking at him for a moment, I could see the _What the actual fuck_ look on his face. Heat rose to my face in humiliation, but with the recent thoughts swimming fresh in my head, I decided not to respond hostile; I instead just stepped down from the chair and picked the book up. When I finally looked at him again, he just stood there staring at me, confused. Probably because I wasn't screaming at him for once. I had to admit, it was actually funny to see him confused, but I didn't laugh or even smile.

Our eyes were locked on each other for only a brief few moments, but it felt like an eternity to me. I was the one to break the silence. "Did…Did you need something, Jaeger? Most people don't call someone's name for no reason."

"Huh...? Oh, well…I just…" he actually seemed to be struggling for words, something that I've never seen before. He always had something to say. A nervous laugh escaped him. "Sorry…I was just wanting…to say that I'm sorry for laughing earlier."

Now it was my turn to have a loss for words. "W…what…?"

"You know…earlier. When Jean flung that rock at you. I laughed….and well, I know you thought I was laughing at you…but I was actually laughing at Jean."

I was confused. "What?"

The nervous laugh from before was actually replaced with a genuine one. "Well, I knew he wasn't going to get away with what he did. He knew it, too. You would've laughed if you'd seen that horrified expression on his face. He looked like he might have pissed his pants."

"Oh…" That was all the response I could give.

"Yeah..." Eren continued. "I wasn't laughing at you…I just wanted you to know that."

A normal response probably would've been to laugh along with him. But here lately, I didn't even have it in me to force myself to smile. So I just nodded. My face was red with shame though as I spoke. "I'm…sorry about punching you in the face…"

"What? Oh…don't worry about it. I'm a titan shifter so any injuries just heal right away. If it wasn't for that, I would've been gifted with a black eye right now." Eren began walking toward me, stopping within a few inches. Some tiny part of me was annoyed that he was a couple inches taller, but I ignored it as I looked up at him. It was true, his face didn't have a mark on it, no indication that I had ever even hit him at all. Not even a little bruise. That was good.

I pretended to be annoyed, even though I wasn't. "Oh, that's just great! We'll never have to worry about messing up your gorgeous face, will we? Meanwhile, the rest of usare just going to get scars all over!"

As soon as I said the words, I was worried he'd take it wrong and get all offended. To my surprise, he realized what I was trying to do and laughed. "Damn straight. Nothing's messing up this handsome face."

The corners of my mouth pulled up, creating a very slight smile. It wasn't a huge one, probably barely obvious. But it was there. And he was the person to bring it out. Who'd have thought that this guy that constantly pisses me off would manage to do that?

He stood there, staring down at me. It took me a few moments to actually realize it, but when I did, I instantly jerked my head to the side, staring at the floor. "Wh-what is it?"

"Make sure to take care of that cut. Wouldn't want your pretty face to get a scar on it."

_'What the **hell**?'_

"What's the matter? Are you okay?"

My hands immediately flew to my bangs to cover up the bandage on my forehead. "No-nothing! Let's just hurry up and finish cleaning already! We'll get pneumonia from all the dust in here."

I walked away from him as fast as I could without tripping, snatching a broom from the corner. Without looking back at him, I started to sweep quickly as I tried to forget what had just happened. A quiet laugh escaped him, but I didn't dare turn around. Noise filled the emptiness as I assumed he went back to doing what he'd been doing. But he said one last thing before the building fell silent again.

"I'm serious, Keefe."

* * *

_'"I'm serious, Keefe."'_

Eren's last words kept replaying in my head as I made my way to Heichou's office. Considering I was the only one called here, you'd think I'd be terrified at his reasons. But no, my brain was acting weird and stupid and focused on those three words.

What did he mean by that? Serious about what? I mean, shit, how much vaguer could he be? About my face getting a scar? About him never having to worry about it? About...about... I blushed and quickly cast that possibility to the side. There's no _**way **_that was what he said he was serious about. No way. Dammit, I needed to quit overanalyzing simple sentences!

I knocked on Heichou's door, then waited for a response. From the other side of the door, I heard a disgruntled "Come in" before I opened the door and entered the office. Levi Heichou was sitting behind a simple desk with some papers in front of him. He didn't even bother looking up as I approached the desk. "Sir?"

Levi Heichou finally looked up from the papers. "Well, Jaeger and you did a lax cleaning job…But we'll get to that once you come back."

"Come back?" I asked, dumbfounded. Were we going to a different post or something?

"Give me a chance to explain before you interrupt, kid." Levi Heichou replied, not harshly…just the typical way he spoke. "We're going to need time to resupply for the next trip outside the walls. Because of that, I've decided to give you a few days to go home. Your brother and friend are going, too."

This was a first. I'd never heard of such a thing before. I mean, after expeditions, sure. But everyone else was permitted to. "If I may ask…why, sir?"

"What? Don't want to go home?"

"It's not that…It's just…why just us?"

Heichou sighed. "Partly because your father served the Survey Corps well, so I guess they decided to send the brats he had left home for a few days. Besides, it's the general time that we let soldiers go home from expeditions. But most of this particular squad doesn't really have a place to go home to. Keep that in mind."

I was speechless for a moment. "Th-thank you, sir…For your permission…"

"Tch. Just get ready and leave before I change my mind about it. I get your family is upset, so try not wallowing in guilt while you're there, got it? I'm sure your family would appreciate."

"Yes, sir." I answered quietly. He dismissed me from his office, and I made my way to my room to get ready to go home.

And I wasn't so sure that was a good thing.


End file.
